Long before his wife filed for divorce — and informed the world he was a bad dad — Brad Pitt boasted about his unique take on fatherhood.

'I beat my kids regularly. It seems to do the trick,' he said in 2011. 'And I deprive them of meals.'

He was, of course, joking. Indeed, as Pitt ruefully admitted on a talk show, an early attempt to impose some boundaries on adopted son Pax, then aged five, by putting him into a 'time out' chair had ended with the child deliberately wetting himself in retaliation.

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With six children — three adopted, Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, and three biological, Shiloh, ten, and twins Knox and Vivienne, eight — and a truly globe-trotting lifestyle, there has never been anything remotely conventional about the Brangie Bunch

Aside from regular visits to war zones and refugee camps, which Angelina thinks is good for the children's development, daily domestic life has been a form of chaos

With six children — three adopted, Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, and three biological, Shiloh, ten, and twins Knox and Vivienne, eight — and a truly globe-trotting lifestyle, there has never been anything remotely conventional about the Brangie Bunch.

Aside from regular visits to war zones and refugee camps, which Angelina thinks is good for their development, daily domestic life has been a form of chaos.

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There has long been a retinue of six nannies — one per child — chosen to reflect the unique heritage of each.

Then there is a chef (Angelina does not cook, saying the only food she can prepare is a bowl of Cheerios cereal) and tutor, taking the core childcare team to eight.

Numerous former nannies have given hair-raising accounts of their time looking after the children. An unnamed former nanny told In Touch celebrity magazine that the brood were constantly swearing and fighting, with Maddox and Pax in particular having 'bad tempers'. Above, the estate Brad shared with Angelina and their family

Earlier this year, Angelina put her brother James Haven in charge of the children — she trusts James and has always paid him 10 per cent of her earnings — and the number of nannies is said to have dropped to a more modest two, plus tutors.

There has never been anything approaching formal school for any of them. Sources indicate that Maddox, whom Angelina boasts has a very high IQ, attended one of the Lycee Francais schools in LA about five years ago, but it didn't last.

Now I'm told Angelina is keen to get them all into school for the first time — particularly now the older ones are teenagers. She feels they could do with a bit of 'socialisation'.

There has long been a retinue of six nannies — one per child — chosen to reflect the unique heritage of each

By Pitt's own account, this is a good idea. He compared the atmosphere in the family home with One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, which is set in a mental institution. 'That's morning time in our house,' he said. 'It's chaos from morning until the lights go out, and sometimes after that.'

Was that a joke, too? It seems not. Numerous former nannies have given hair-raising accounts of their time looking after the children. An unnamed former nanny told In Touch celebrity magazine that the brood were constantly swearing and fighting, with Maddox and Pax in particular having 'bad tempers'.

She added that Maddox, then nine, drank wine and drove a car around their property.

It was said the children listened more to Pitt for discipline. The nanny added: 'They have no control over the kids. In the middle of the night they're running down the hallway waking their parents up and trying to get into their beds.'

Brad said that when he and Angelina wanted time alone, their only option was to check in to a hotel. 'You got to leave,' he said, laughing wryly

Other sources said raising the children had been a huge challenge and Pitt had been known to yell and try to impose rules, while Angelina never did so.

Pitt, son of Mid-Western Baptists, was predictably rather less 'children first' than Bohemian Angie, whose feelings about motherhood are very intense, having lost her mother Marcheline, who raised her alone, to ovarian cancer at a tragically young age.

Daughter Shiloh, for instance, has dressed as a boy since she was three-and-a-half. Angelina and Brad have supported her throughout. Brad said: 'We've got to call her John.'

Not that the eccentricities end there. Maddox's fascination with weapons and martial arts is actively encouraged. When he was six, Angelina said proudly: 'He's all into war and guns. So for Mother's Day he drew a machine-gun, and Brad had it made into a necklace, which is really sweet. It's really cute.'

When he was seven she talked about starting a dagger collection for the boy. She told W magazine: 'My mom took me to buy my first daggers when I was 11 or 12, and I've already bought Maddox some.'

For his eighth birthday treat Maddox was taken to visit a refugee camp in Iraq.

People who have spent time with the family say that chaos reigns wherever they are.

Indeed the decade of Brad-and-Ange family life has certainly included more movement than stability. Aside from their house in LA, they have settled in New Orleans and in France, rented houses in London and called myriad luxury hotels a temporary home.

And — perhaps most peculiar of all — from time to time Mum and Dad would leave just to get away from it all.

Brad said that when he and Angelina wanted time alone, their only option was to check in to a hotel. 'You got to leave,' he said, laughing wryly.

Jolie is said to habitually rent a suite at a Los Angeles hotel, even though she and Brad own a property in Hollywood.

The nannies sit up watching cartoons with the children at all hours of the night, while Brad and Angie are sleeping soundly in another room

She is said to ask for the suite which she booked for her mother when she was ill.

A source said: 'With nannies for each child, they have never done night feeds or any of the daily work of getting the kids into routines. And because of the travelling, it's almost impossible to get children settled when they have jet lag.

'The nannies sit up watching cartoons with the children at all hours of the night, while Brad and Angie are sleeping soundly in another room.

'Two nannies ended up resigning when Angie was working on the 2008 film Wanted. The nannies ended up working for months on end, around the clock, with no holiday or days off.

'Brad might suddenly turn up and decide to eat pizza with the kids or he'll take them out for the day and totally throw their routines.

'For example, they once took the twins out in the middle of the night in Jordan and fed them ice cream.

'But these are children, plus orphans have abandonment issues, so they need roots, ties, friends . . . all the things that they don't have.'

It is said that the children are 'shy' on the rare occasions that they do socialise with other children.

Maddox, who was adopted from Cambodia in 2002 just as Angelina's marriage to Billy Bob Thornton collapsed, takes piano lessons and is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Khmer. He's said to be a gifted football player.

Angelina boasted in a BBC Woman's Hour interview that the others were also learning languages, as she aspires to raise global citizens.

She said last year: 'We travel often to Asia, Africa, Europe, where they were born. The boys [Maddox and Pax] know they're from South-East Asia, and they have their food and their music and their friends, and they have a pride particular to them.

'But I want them to be just as interested in the history of their sisters' countries and mommy's country, so we don't start dividing.'